Swiss Islamic council regrets approval of niqab-ban petition

The Islamic Shura Council in Switzerland Sunday regretted Ticino Canton's voters' approval of a petition to introduce new constitutional article to ban wearing of niqab, or face-veil, in public. "The move is a sign of the growing Islamophobia in the European country," the Shura Council Spokesman Qaasim Illi told KUNA. "It could be followed by other similar moves targeting the Muslim community in the country and their rights." Illi described the move as within the frame of the relentless efforts by right-wing extremists to erode Muslim rights. Nearly two thirds of voters in Ticino, 64 percent, said yes for the petition in a referendum initiated by a local activist. The measure calls for banning clothes that hide one's face in public. The approval of the petition requires the canton to amend its constitution to incorporate the new dress rules, a move that necessitates the approval of the Swiss Parliament. Illi, however, criticized the Ticino provincial parliament's failure to stand up to what he described as "anti-Muslim schemes" of the right-wing extremists. "Direct democracy obliges lawmakers to defend religious and ethnic minorities and not to let them easy prey to right-wing extremists who employ this democracy to spread hatred and restrict rights of minorities." Illi cautioned that "these acts increase majority-minority polarization and entirely contradict the Swiss constitution which ensuring equality among all citizens regardless of their faith or ethnicity". "It also endangers peaceful co-existence in the society." The move recalls to minds a similar initiative also by the Swiss far-rights which led to ban on the building of minarets, the prayer towers of mosques, in 2009. The two votes display a widespread anxiety about Islam and threaten to undermined the country's reputation for religious tolerance. Fewer than 5,000 of Ticino's roughly 370,000 inhabitants are Muslims, non of them wear the face-veil. The whole Muslim population in Switzerland is estimated at 450,000 and most of them are of Turkish or Balkan origins. The number of Muslim women who wear the face-veil across is less than a dozen